The first thing that you want to do is prepare a proper resume. Now, some of you may have prepared resume, have experienced preparing resumes for other jobs, some of you may have never prepared a resume. So let's start it off with the subject that nobody knows what a resume is. Well, a resume is a brief history of what your job experience has been and what your goals for employment are? Now, the reason why a resume is important in your search for a bartending job is many establishments say that they want to look at your resume even before they interview you.
So it’s important that your resume gives the necessary information in a proper format that when a perspective employer looks at it they say “Hey, this resume looks good, I want to talk to this person”. So resume often times is an open door to employment. Now, if you don’t have a resume, that’s a close door. If your resume is not done properly that’s a close door. So this is the reason why we’re going to spend a few minutes just briefly talking about a resume. Now, the first thing that you want to do is start doing your resume. Don’t wait until you finish the program. What I personally suggest is a brief one page resume.
On your resume I strongly suggest that you include a photo. The reason why I suggest the photo is because bartending is a public position. You're going to be interfacing and dealing with an establishment costumers. Often times you are the first contact that the costumers have with the establishment. So think about it from a perspective employers view point. What type of person do they want representing them behind the bar? Well, they wanted somebody that has a nice appearance. They wanted somebody that smiles. They wanted somebody that has a positive body language. So this is why a photo is helpful because let's say your perspective employer and you receive eight or nine or 10 resumes and the resumes all talk about experiences etcetera, etcetera. But all of a sudden perspective employer comes across your resume.
All the other resumes let’s say don’t have a photo, they're just text, they're just words. But then they see a picture of you. You're smiling. You're making nice appearance. You have positive body language that’s going to stand out. So that gives you a perspective edge in securing the interview and getting the job. The second thing to consider is at the top of your resume after you give the pertinent information you want to list in detail what you’ve learned here at the Bartending School and this is important because on an interview one of the first questions you're going to be asked is what type of experience do you have in bartending?
That is the same thing when somebody looks at your resume. They're really interested in what type of experience or knowledge you have of bartending and one of the mistakes that students often make in preparing a resume is they list in detail all of the things that they’ve done prior to go into Bartending School. When you're interviewing for a bartending job most of every other work experience owners and managers really don’t care about. What they really care about, what do you know about bartending?
Now, after you’ve listed what you’ve learned here at the school it is important to list your other jobs especially if they had anything to do with working with the public or costumer service, as you're in or retail be sure to mention that and be sure to list that you have experience dealing with costumers and then after that briefly list your other jobs that you have or your other work experience.
Now, often time’s students procrastinate doing their resume until after they finish the program and they're finish with the school. Please don’t do that. It’s very important that you do your resume immediately. This way while you're still attending class you can bring it in, you can show it to your instructor and he or she will be able to look at it, go over it and they’ll look at it as a perspective employer and they’ll critic it and they’ll tell you everything that you're doing right and if you're doing anything wrong they’ll make suggestions on how to improve it.
So just remember your resume is a window into what you’ve done in the past and why you're qualified for the job that you're applying for. Don’t take it legally so after class or tomorrow be sure to do it. Be sure to bring it in and go over it with your instructor. Now at the end of this just in a few minutes your instructors going to give you a hand out, it’s going to go over a sample format, do you have to follow it? No, it’s your resume, add some really good points at it that maybe very beneficial and you're looking for a job, yes. That is your decision. Remember we have a two part program. They’ll train you and they’ll help you find the job but a lot of it depends on you. So pay attention to these tips.
An important job tip is always take a resume to a job interview. The reason why you want to do this is most other people who maybe interviewing for the job probably haven't taken the time or maybe effort to prepare a resume. So when you go in there for the interview and you gave them a resume it’s going to make you stand out.
Now, hopefully you’ve completed your resume and you follow one of the formats that your instructor has gone over that will clearly illustrate to a perspective employer all the things that you’ve learned here at the school and why you're qualified for the job. The second reason why it’s good to bring your resume on a job interview is because let's say the employer has interviewed five or six people and maybe he’s had them until a lot of application and he’s trying to decide who to hire. While he’s looking at these applications and he can't remember who would, did what, and what they look like or what where they worked at and all of the sudden he comes across your resume.
Now, possibly you’ve taken my advice and have a nice small passport size photo on your resume with your big smiling happy face and he picks up you're resume. He sees your happy smiling face. He looks at your experience and he says, “Wow, this person stands out from the crowd”. So by bringing a resume, a proper resume with a photo, it gives you an edge in the interviewing process. Also, many times when you go on a job interview they may not even asked you to come out with an application but by you bringing your resume and leaving it with a perspective employers. Let's, say he’s hired somebody or he doesn’t hire you, well a lot of times when establishments hire somebody that person doesn’t work out for a variety of reasons.
So that means that they got to find somebody quickly. Well, if they are looking through just plain old applications and your nice resume whose going to stand out. So the point is that bringing a resume gives you an edge in the job search. Is it difficult? No, is it important? Yes. Follow this tip, it will help you out in finding that great job.
What I would like to go over now is some of the apparent reasons why when you finish the bartending class you don’t find a job. The first thing that I want to talk about is attitude and time commitment. Whenever you're looking for a bartending job you want to keep in mind this is a job where you can make very good money, have a lot of fun and meet lots of new people. To do this you have to mentally prepare yourself to put in the proper amount of time in looking for the job. Think about it this way, you’ve put in 40 hours taking the American bartenders school, bartending program. You’ve practice and you’ve studied at home. You have to think now that you’ve finished the program you have to put in at least 40 hours in looking for a job if you wanted to be successful.
We spend a lot of time and money and effort developing many, many job leads each week for you. Many places call us and also our job placement department makes hundreds of phone calls every week to establishments in your area to find out whose hiring. But this job leads doesn’t do anybody any good unless you follow up on them. So you have to make the mental commitment and have the proper attitude to go on this job leads and keep going on these job leads until you’ve find the right type of job. So mentally prepare yourself that you're going to have to put in as much time as you did learning bartending and finding a bartending job.
The second reason why you may have problems finding a job is you just don’t go on enough interviews. Maybe you went on one interview, maybe you went on two interviews, and maybe you went on three interviews and for whatever reason the job didn’t worked out. And all of the sudden you stop and you say, “Oh, my goodness, nobody wants to hire me, I don’t have enough experience.” Any of the multiple reasons we could go over, but the bottom line is that as long as you could move, as long as you have energy you’ve got to keep interviewing. It’s no different than finding the right person in your life. When you first started dating, did you get back to your first date? Because you didn’t get along with the person or let's say somebody asked you out or you asked somebody out and that didn’t go well.
Well, it’s the same thing with looking for a bartending job. The other reason that goes along with this is often times people are too selective. They hear a name of a place or they looked at an area of a place and they say, “Oh, that’s not the place for me, I don’t like that name” or “That’s a little too far, all right I want to work in that area”. Well, I understand safety and you may not like certain things but the most important thing when you’ve finished the school is to get a job, get some experience, and start making some money. Hey, if after you do that, you're working at a place and the money is not right or it’s a little too far to travel, or the hours aren’t quite right. You can always look for another job. Remember it’s easier to find a job when you have a job.
The third reason why graduates may have problems finding a job is they haven't made the proper efforts to properly prepare for the job process. We've already talked about attitude and selectability but another important factor is not preparing a resume or not preparing a resume properly. Now, we've given you information or there is information on our website, how to properly prepare a resume.
Now, we have done this to make your job search easier and your selectability, the perspective employers hire. So if you haven't prepared a resume, if you haven't prepared a resume as we've advised you that is one of the reasons why you maybe having a difficult time finding a job. Right along with that we have to talk about have you properly prepared to answer the question what type of experience do you have. That’s a question that’s going to be asked each and every interview.
And remember when somebody asked you that question they say that you're a graduate of the Bartending School that’s not good enough answer. You have to sell yourself. You want to go in there with confidence, you want to go in there and explain to the interviewer what you’ve learned here at the school. Tell them about the number of rates, tell them how the school works, explain how you know proper pouring techniques, how you know alcohol awareness, how you're fully aware of good costumer service and how you can be a very good employee that will help the establishment obtain profitability and retain and find new costumers. So prepare yourself in advance before this question is asked.
Another important reason why people may have problems finding a bartending job is their personal appearance when they go on interview. What you have to remember when you go for an interview. A bartender represents the face of the establishment. So if you go improperly dressed in shorts, or cutoffs, or sandal, or tennis shoes, you don’t have a hair cut, you haven't shaved and you haven't used any deodorant. Your clothes are dirty. They're wrinkled or whatever it might be. Your hands are dirty. Your fingernails are dirty.
All of these little things are things that will work against you on first impressions. Often times, interviewers make their decision within the first ten seconds that they see a perspective employee and this is especially true in the food and beverage business because when you're a bartender you're handling people’s drinks. It’s a matter of sanitation and a lot of bartenders also serve food sometimes for the bar menus. So cleanliness is up most importance in looking for a job.
Another thing is do you have any piercing? Do you have lots of tattoos? Now, I know that if you're young tattoos are in, piercings are in. However, there are only a limited amount of places where that’s acceptable. So if you have a lot of tattoos at least stand the initial interview, wear something long sleeve to cover your arms. Something that covers kind of your collar area, the same holds through with piercings, if you have a lot of piercings in your ears, in your nose, on your lips, in your eyebrows take them out.
Now, once you start working, once you get to know the person, you can ask “Hey, I have some piercings, is it okay?” also the same thing with tattoos. Many places may accept these things however some places may discriminate it against them. It’s unfortunate but that’s the way the life is, that’s the way life is and we’re just trying to give you all the tips that are necessary for you to become gainfully employed in the bartending industry.
Another reason why it might be difficult for people to find jobs is they go on the interview at the wrong time and what do I mean by the wrong time. It’s when the establishment is busy. They go during lunch. They go during the cocktail hour or dinner or if they're going to a night club, they go to the night club when it’s packed with people.
But the first thing you want to do to avoid that problem is look at the job or in the internet site. We try and give the times when the people will be available for interviews, pay attention to that. If you go in at the wrong time chances are they're not going to spend any time talking to you or they may say just fill out an application and leave it and that’s just a waste of time. If you don’t have an opportunity to talk to the individual chances are you are wasting your time.
The other thing is, often times people will go in for a job lead that we've listed and they asked the hostess or they asked the bartender or they asked one of the servers “Hey, is this place hiring? Are there any jobs here?” instead of asking for the manager directly and if the manager is not there, not wasting their time talking to the other employees. Keep in mind that the reason why an establishment maybe looking for somebody is to terminate somebody that’s not doing an effective job. So when you go in a job interview you want to talk to the person that we tell you to talk to and you want to go at the time that you're supposed to go.
Another reason why people may have a problem finding a job is when they go on in the interview they don’t have all the reference material. They don’t have their Social Security Number. They don’t have their Drivers License Number. They don’t have references. They don’t have dates when they were previously employed and the reason why you have to have all this information with you when you go on a job interview is if you go to any of the major places and either corporation places and either hotels often times even if you have a resume they want you to fill out an application. The worst thing to do is to leave spaces blank because you don’t have the information or scratch out information because once you started writing it you thought “Oh, no I don’t have the right date or I don’t have the right information”. So filling on an application properly often makes the difference between getting a job and not getting a job.
The other thing that you want to be sure that when you go on an interview is that you have a resume and when you finish the interview to leave the resume. Bear in mind most people applying for bartending job don’t have a resume. So you are heads and shoulders above most of the other applicants because you have a resume. The other advantage of leaving a resume is that sometimes even if the job is filled, if you leave a resume whoever they hired may not worked out and the first thing that the manager may do is go through the recent applications.
Well, if your resume looks neat, if it’s professional, if it’s done in the format that we've suggested. That resume is going to stand out and that’s going to give you a greater chance of getting the job.
When you go in a job interview go alone. Don’t bring your boyfriend. Don’t bring your girlfriend. Don’t bring your mother or father. Don’t bring anybody. If you do need a ride some place or you have to go with somebody make sure they wait outside. There is nothing worst than somebody going on a job interview and having their friend sit there and see the owner or manager seeing the friend there because it shows insecurity.
Right along with that you want to be sure that you turn off your cell phone when you're on that interview. When you're talking to somebody, there is nothing worst than somebody asking you question or you answering a question and you're cell phone rings or you get a text message and you have to stop, that is extremely annoying to the interviewer.
The final thing that I want to go over with you is don’t give up. You may get a job in your first interview. You may get a job in your second interview. However, if it takes five interviews or it takes 10 interviews or it takes 20 interviews there are jobs out there. You have been adequately prepared. You have taught. You have practiced. You are capable. You have the ability to handle any bartending job that is out there. Now, it’s a matter of hard work meeting opportunity and the opportunity may come quickly or it may take a little longer but don’t give up.
The last thing that I wanted to talk to you about in your job search is don’t rely on classified advertising, help line and sections of the newspaper or job orgs, or Craig’s list, or any of this other places where you may see bartending jobs available. I'm not saying you shouldn’t look at them but don’t rely on them 100%. I'm now I'm going to explain why?
For every bartending job that is advertised there are at least 10 bartending jobs that are available that are not advertised and the reason why a lot of places will have potential bartending openings that are advertised is because they want to get rid of somebody. The person doesn’t show up on time. They're over pouring. They're not reliable. They don’t have good customer service skills. It doesn’t make any difference. So if they put an ad in the paper or they put an ad on the internet and a bartender sees that ad that they want to replace, hey that person is going to quit. They're going to steal. They're going to spike the drinks. Who knows what?
So anybody who owns an establishment that wants to get rid of the bartender normally doesn’t advertise it. Hopefully they think that possibly somebody will walk in or maybe somebody that runs another place or another manager might know of a bartender whose looking for a job. So that’s number one, for every job that is advertise there at least 10 jobs out there that are not advertised, okay, so what do you do now. How do you find the places that aren’t advertised?
Well, it’s called hard work, the rules are number one. You got to stock your resumes, print it up. You carry all your information about a potential job application, driver’s license number, Social Security Number, references whatever it takes with you. You go establishment during none peak hours which means don’t go there in the lunch hours. Don’t go there in the cocktail hours. Don’t go through the dinner hours or the cocktail hours.
When you go to this establishment, the first thing you'll asked “May I speak to the owner or manager?” You don’t go to the hostess. You don’t go to the bartender. You don’t go to the server and say “Do you know if there are any bartending jobs available”. Once you find out who the owner or the manager is, you want to ask if you could talk to him for a moment.
Be sure to be outside of ear shot of the bartender or any of the other help on duty because if the owner or manager is looking to replace the bartender they don’t want everybody else in the establishment who works there to know. They might be friends with the bartender and they don’t want the bartender to know and then asked them if they are accepting any applications or doing any interviews for a bartending job. You would be surprised at how many managers you will encounter who would say, “Yes I am” and this is why you want to have your resume.
Now if you go into an establishment and the owner and the manager is not there. Carry a note pad with you. You want to ask what their name is. Write it down. Asked them what is the best time to come in and talk to them when they're not busy and marked down the time. Also, mark the days of the week that they're there because a lot of times, they might not be there during the week or on the weekends, so you want to know when to go back. And then let's say that it’s a situation where the person that you're talking to about the perspective job says “Hey, I'm sorry, I don’t need anybody right now”.
Give them one of your resumes and say “If anything should come off within the near future here’s my resume. Please give me a call. I would be very interested in talking to you”. Before you leave you want to also ask the person that you're speaking with if they know any establishments in the area that are currently interviewing or hiring bartenders. You would be surprised once again they say “Yeah, Apple Bees, I know the manager down there they said that they're getting busier, they might need somebody”. So you want to network.
The second tip that I want to give you on this is you see a lot of jobs advertised on the internet or somebody’s job words let's say the Myriad Hotel or the Wyndham Hotel or whatever hotel it is or Country Club is looking for a bartender, send an online application. Sending online applications is usually a waste of time and a waste of paper. The reason is online applications usually go to the Human Resource Person who knows nothing about what makes a good bartender. And you don’t know whether the beverage manager says “I only want to see people with five years of experience or three years of experience and therefore your resume might be thrown out of the door.
Now don’t let the amount of experience intimidate you because really what they're trying to weed out is people who have absolutely no experience. They are trying to bluff that you are trained a bartending job. So what you want to do is find out who the beverage manager is or the food and beverage manager is and who manages the bartenders. The other thing that I would do, I would be sure that I went to that Human Resources Office and put in an application there and asked who is the bartender manager and try and see that person.
Another important tip in your job search is to mentally prepare for the interview before you go on it. The reason why you want to mentally prepare for it is because body language is 93% of our communication. So therefore if we have positive body language because we've mentally prepared for the interview, we’ve thought about it. We thought positive thoughts. We've go on over the questions that they might be asked on an interview. We've thought about some really good answers. We've thought about how we would really prepare for the job, all of our training, all of the positive things. Now the reason why you wanted to mentally prepare for this and think about this thing before you go on the interview is because when you're in front of that person, you're going to be asked a few questions.
How you respond to those questions, what your body language is whether it’s positive or negative or whether it’s hidden or closed often times determines whether you will get a job or not get a job and that’s just isn't for bartending jobs. This is for any job at all. Remember 93% of communication on a one-to-one basis in person is through body language. So this is why it’s important that before you start talking to an individual on an interview that you think positive thoughts, that you psyche yourself up, that you respond to the various questions that you might be asked with enthusiasm, with power.
Don’t sit back and be all afraid. Don’t think well, I wonder if I could really do the job. Maybe my confidence is enough. If you go in with that type of attitude you're not going to be successful. You're going to have a difficult time finding a job. When you go on that interview you have to think and you will have to project that you can handle the job. That no matter who they're interviewing you are by far the best and most qualified person for that particular job and you can't be afraid to show that in your body language, in your voice communications with the perspective employer.
So don’t let somebody scare you and who says you don’t have enough experience or I only hire somebody with lots of experience. Hey, bartending isn't brain surgery. It’s a manual skill. You’ve been more drinks here, more different types of drinks than most bartenders have made in years. So be proud of your training, talked it up. Don’t be afraid. And if somebody tells you that you don’t have enough experience, don’t get discourage. Don’t become disappointed. Don’t give up. That’s one person’s opinion. We have literally trained thousands of men and women of all ages to be working bartenders out there. They took the same class that you did. They came in to the school with almost the same knowledge which was pretty much nothing and they left and they went out and secure jobs and turned out to be fantastic qualified bartenders.
You can do the same thing. So if you run into stumbling block from somebody, hey, they may happen, just ignore it and go on. If you take that particular situation and you allow it to affect you negatively. Nothing is going to happen positive. So don’t become discourage. Your training has been fantastic. You are fantastic bartender. I measure you up against somebody experienced and I'm sure that you would out bartend them.
One other thing, if somebody says that you don’t have enough experience, say “Hey, I’ll work a couple of days for you for free what do you have to lose. If at the end of the day or two day shifts you don’t think that I can handle it, we’ll just shake hands and say goodbye. If not then you found yourself a terrific employee. Why don’t you give me a chance? You have nothing to lose and everything to gain?” See this shows your confidence, challenge them but challenge them in a nice way and I'm sure you'll be successful.
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